A look at Northern Colorado

Northern Colorado will bring a 3-6 record into the Bradley Center for its game against Marquette on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears, of the Big Sky Conference, are coming off a 71-65 home loss to Denver Wednesday.

“It’s going to be another great challenge,” said Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill of Saturday’s game. “Our schedule is obviously very tough. We’re going to take a young group of guys in there and it’s going to be another great experience for them and an opportunity to get better.”

The Bears are led by the sophomore guard tandem of Paul Garnica (14.4 points per game) and Tate Unruh (11.6 points). Unruh scored a career-high 19 points against Denver while Garnica finished with 18 points and six assists. Sophomore center Connor Osborne grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.

Hill starts four sophomores and one freshman.

The Bears, coming off a 10-day break for finals, shot 50% and led by five at halftime against Denver but the Pioneers scored the first 11 points of the second half.

“I was pleased with our growth this week but that has to continue,” said Hill. “I think it will, it’s just unfortunate (for the players) that they’re playing this schedule and they may not see the growth in the win column right away. But if they’re patient and they’re mentally strong, they’ll see the benefits as we get into conference play and we get into March.”

Northern Colorado opened its season with consecutive losses to New Mexico State, Wyoming, Northern Iowa, and Iowa State.